ζειαί

English (Autenrieth)

a coarse kind of barley, spelt, Od. 4.41, 604.

Frisk Etymological English

Grammatical information: f. pl.
Meaning: one-sided wheat, spelt, Triticum monococcum (Od., Hdt.), hell. and late also sg. ζειά (Thphr.), ζεά (ζέα), -η (pap. IIIa, D. H.; Dsc. and Gal. as v. l.).
Compounds: As 1. member in ζεί-δωρος giving spelt (wheat) (Il.; of ἄρουρα), ζεό-πυρον n. kind of Triticum (Gal.); as 2. member in φυσί-ζοος producing wheat (Hom., Orac. ap. Hdt. 1, 67; of αἶα), Οἰσε-ζέα PN (Lesb.). Both as 1. and as 2. member ζει-, -ζοος were early (Emp., A.) associated with ζῆν, ζωή and understood as lifegiving.
Derivatives: ζῆνος = ζέϊνος of spelt (pap. IIa)?
Origin: IE [Indo-European] [512] *i̯eu̯h₁-wheat, spelt
Etymology: Clearly to Skt. yáva-, Av. yava- m. wheat etc., Lith. pl. javaĩ wheat, sg. jãvas . If the diphthong in ζειαί is real, we have to start from PGr. *ζεϜ-ι̯α (Sommer Lautstud. 153f., s. Schulze Q. 288 n. 4), so a ια-deriv. of IE. *i̯eu̯o- in Skt. yáva- etc. The monophthongal forms would be secondary. But if ζειαι has metric lengthening for ζε(Ϝ)αί (with the epic orthography retained in this prob. purely literary word), the Greek word agrees with the Indo-Iranian and Lithuanian word. The 2. member -ζο(Ϝ)ος (with regular ο-ablaut) speaks against a ι̯α-deriv. The 1. member ζει- may stand for ζε(Ϝ)ε- (from *i̯eu̯h₁-). Cf. δηαί. - Cf. Bq and WP., Pok. 512, Bechtel Lexilogus s. ζείδωρος, Chantraine Gramm. hom. 1, 31.